We had the great pleasure of catching up with Supernatural and Ghost Stalker’s Chad Lindberg at this year’s DCCon. We’ve known Chad for a long time, since he was one of the first people we interviewed while we were writing ‘Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls’ and ‘Fandom At The Crossroads.’

We’ve explored New Orleans and Bourbon Street together, and hosted film screenings in Philly with Chad and My Big Break director and producer Tony Zierra and Elizabeth Yoffe, who were instrumental in talking us into making Fangasm the true story it is.

So it was extra special to have a chance to chat again after all this time.

Lizz Sisson, Chicon 2008

Chad at our very first chat. Photo Lizz Sisson

Photo Lizz Sisson, Chicon 2008

This time we met up at the DC Con hotel, which was an unusual one – not in a bad way, just an unusual layout. We managed to find a small room in the corner of the hotel bar – strangely secluded with curtains – that was more or less quiet, and sat down to chat.

Keep in mind, we had just watched Chad’s panel, in which he talked about some of his recent haunted adventures, which had Lynn totally spooked.

We didn’t have our customary iPads, but I had my trusty antique audio recorder.

Chad: It will be great if you listen to this back and you actually hear something, because I’m talking to it…

Lynn: No it will not!

Kathy: [is laughing] [at Lynn]

Chad [speaking into the recorder]: If there’s anybody around right now, just say something…

Lynn: [grabbing the audio recorder] No! Don’t say anything!

Chad: There’s so much ambient noise, you probably won’t get anything.

Lynn: Good!

Kathy: [still laughing]

Lynn: Sure, sure, because Kathy’s not afraid of ghosts — she has two in her own house!

Kathy [ignoring Lynn and talking to Chad]: When you were talking last night about the imp that was in your house, so for the longest time my kids when they were little, they would come and tell me, there’s this black thing in our room, and it would scurry around, and it was like bigger than a mouse but not huge big. And I just kept discounting it, and then when I heard you describing it today I was like OMG that’s exactly what they used to describe!

Chad: I love that, I love that!

Lynn: Could it have been an imp? What the hell is an imp?

Chad: Imps are like mischievous, troll like things and they live like in bushes .

Lynn: Eww. So they could have had one?

Chad: Oh absolutely. Once they realize that they can be heard, and seen, that’s when they start ramping it up. They’re very mischievous.

Kathy: I’ve never seen it now that the kids are out of the house. I’ve seen the ghosts though. There’s one upstairs and one downstairs. When the kids were little, they would never go into the hallway downstairs because that’s where she is.

Lynn: And other people have seen it. There was a woman there at a party once and she went upstairs and when she came down, she casually said to Kathy ‘you didn’t tell me you had a ghost.’ And she described the same thing others had seen!

Chad: That’s the best way though! Do you mind them?

Katgt: They’ve never done anything mischievous.

Chad: Is it intelligent? Does it actually look at you?

Kathy: Both times that I’ve very clearly seen the upstairs one, one time looking at us, one time just in the doorway.

Chad: They’re just saying hi, yeah.

Kathy: If they were doing shit, I wouldn’t want them around.

Chad: Yeah, they sound like they’re just doing their thing

Lynn: This is me when I’m staying in Kathy’s guest room. I have to walk through that hallway where the woman ghost is seen and I’m just like with my head down repeating ‘I’m not looking I’m not looking I’m not looking’ and hoping I won’t see anything!

Lynn: Fine with me! I’m just like, I’m just passing through, just do your thing. I’ve never seen her though. Wait, can I knock on wood?

Chad: But you know, once you do, it will shift everything. It’s cool to get to experience something like that.

Lynn: [mostly unconvinced] I guess so.

Chad: Nothing makes you feel more alive than having an experience with the dead.

Lizz Sisson, Chicon 2008

Lynn: [a little convinced] I guess just in an existential way, it makes you more aware of death…

Chad: Yeah. Who have gone to someplace else. So there must be someplace else. That’s why I love it. It’s affirming. There are so many other creatures in this world, so many entities. Bizarre stuff.

Lynn: Yeah, I guess it’s pretty arrogant to think it’s only us.

Kathy: Who knows, there might be a whole parallel civilization out there, other planets

Chad: I’d love to experience that in my lifetime, it would shift everything, we wouldn’t be the center of the universe. It would crumble all structures.

Lynn, Kathy and Chad all ponder for a minute.

Lynn: So, what’s happening with Ghost Stalkers?

Chad: No idea right now.

Lynn: I thought it was great.

Chad: It was, everyone loves it, it got a great response but they haven’t picked us up for a season 2. It’s been spoofed, and they do marathons in their paranormal block. I don’t know. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. If that doessn’t come back, I’m gonna definitely seek it out. I’ve got a foot in there, I’m established, I have a little bit of respect in that world.

Kathy: Is it possible that they will decide to renew?

Chad: Maybe a year or two. They keep replaying it.

Lynn: Which means they realize it was successful

Chad: Yes, it’s huge in Columbia, France, people are loving it. And here of course. It’s even been on The Soup. Which is like, unheard of. I’ve been an actor for 20 years and this is what gets me on The Soup!

Lynn: Well, it hit a nerve with people. What I liked is that people really related to the two of you, and then when you would experience something, the people watching could feel it too. That was a good idea, to make yourselves vulnerable.

Chad: Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. It’s genuine, it’s very genuine. And you can see that organic fear radiate off our bodies. You know what I mean? Like acting is not even coming close to that. I’m in these places by myself all night. So when people say I scream too much it’s like fuck, you try it! Just getting up to that door and knowing that you have to go in by yourself. The place is completely empty and it’s one of the most haunted locations ever. Go in there by yourself.

Lynn: No way.

Chad: 99% of people won’t even get in the door.

Lynn: Nope.

Chad: Just last five minutes. So, you know, I crawl around basements… I wish they would have showed it, but I walked that entire prison, I crawled through the tunnels. I got lost, there were like 9 or 10 tunnels, I couldn’t find my way out. I had to remember the way I came in had yellow paint.

Lynn: Oh no, just no. I mean, you go to places where bad things have happened, so you’re not even seeking out benign spirits.

Chad: Well, they’re very intelligent. And the night before they took down John, they were actually giving him the feelings of having a heart attack. So he was tripping out and earlier that day he was like, nothing’s going to happen and I was like, I know, I’m gonna be the first one to push the button. But he was the first one to push the button.

Lynn: So not funny.

C: He had to go all the way down the hall. And I went in and I got him out. The roles were reversed a little bit. Scared the shit out of me because I was like, fuck, I have to go in there by myself. They took down John, I’m gonna die. So I went in and I was like, I just have to be affirmative and respectful and I went in and they don’t show it but I laid out a bunch of tobacco – in a prison. And I said, this is for you.

Lynn: That was a good idea.

Chad: This is my gift to you, yeah. At that point I felt like I had their respect and nothing really hurt me. I had some terrifying moments . Then when I jumped in front of the cages, I was on my knees, they made fun of that. That was after I had crawled through the entire prison, and I knew that I could have something happen. So I just kept doing it until they opened the door and it was like aaah, release!

Kathy: Is that what they made fun of on The Soup?

Chad: Yeah, that was on The Soup. People think oh he’s just jumping to jump, but no. it was like a warrior sort of pride you know? Yes, I connected with something that’s beyond me.

Lynn and Kathy: [nodding]

Chad: So I don’t know why they wouldn’t pick it up again. It’s something I’m really passionate about. I took a hiatus from acting just because that last project, the woman that died…

Lynn: That was terrible…terrible. Have you gone back to acting?

Chad: Yeah, I’m working right now. I’ve always been auditioning but I took some time. It became not fun, so it had to be fun again.

Lynn: What are you working on?

Chad: A Lifetime movie about Charlie Manson.

Kathy and Lynn: [laughing] Oh! Not exactly light and fun.

Chad: Yeah, Charlie Manson, not exactly. I’m playing Terry Melcher, who was a record producer back in the day. He produced the Byrds. He was Doris Day’s son, and Manson had actually auditioned for him, wanting to be a musician. And he turned him down and Manson lost his shit and sent his disciples out and they ended up killing Sharon Tate. Terry Melcher had lived in that house and just moved out. So it’s speculated that the original intent to kill was Terry. So I have a couple scenes with Manson , I get to play a smug record producer. I’ve got a moustache.

Lynn and Kathy: Cool.

Chad: I always feel like I have to justify the moustache because I’m not a moustache guy. But if Richard walked around the corner and had a moustache, nobody would think twice. But I have a moustache and people are like, what’s up with this guy?

Lynn and Kathy: [are laughing]

Lynn: There are probably plenty of people here who have never seen you at a con. So many people have discovered the Show via TNT or Netflix, so it makes sense to have the actors from the early seasons, who those people have never met. You’re brand new for them. They may have just been introduced to Ash on Netflix a month ago and mainlined the entire series in the past 6 weeks!

Chad: Oh, that’s cool. I hope these cons go on for years and I hope they keep asking me because it’s really special, this weekend has been special. There was so much love at karaoke last night. This amount of love onstage, and in the audience, and it was felt.

Lynn: There was a lot of love. You and Gabe Tigerman did a great panel today, btw. Everyone was saying oh it’s so great to have Chad and Gabe back.

Chad: That’s awesome. It felt like that, but it’s been so long, I don’t know what the reception is anymore.

Gabe onstage with Chad at DCCon

Lynn: And you’re doing a shoot for the Squee documentary, right?

Chad: I am – is that you?

Lynn: Yep. I’m an Associate Producer and co-writer. It’s not my project, but I’m helping out. It’s a fan positive thing, so I recommended some people I knew could talk articulately and respectfully about fandom.

Chad: Okay, thanks. That sounds good.

Kathy: How’s the jewelry business?

Chad: Doing okay yeah, I’m using Periscope to talk about it, and you can see the jewelry that way too. My sister and my mom, we’ve done it two or three times. And we were blown away by sales, the power of Periscope is fascinating to me.

Lynn: What is it?

Chad: It’s live broadcasting. You guys should definitely be doing this. People can live broadcast from anywhere in the world. There are people all over the world broadcasting live. That’s what I was doing last night on stage and people were loving it.

Lynn: Oh, I was wondering what you were doing!

Chad: It stays up for 24 hours.

At this point, Chad played back the karaoke periscope and we all ended up laughing our heads off.

Chad introduces us to the wonder of Periscope

Karaoke periscope!

Chad: You guys can get on there and talk about the book and do it live! And you can do interviews with fans live, with people who read the book or whatever.

Lynn: It’s so funny because you’re the first one who told us about twitter too, way back during the very first cons when we met you.

Kathy: Seriously, you’re like an early adopter.

Chad: You know what? We’re gonna do one right now.

Lynn and Kathy: We are?

Chad: [pulling out his phone] Yeah, all right, here we go. Live from DCCon, here I am with my friends Lynn and Kathy, the Fangasm girls! Okay, so this is live.

Lynn: [laughing] Oh this is Kathy’s dream, to be seen live all over the world! [If you’ve read Fangasm, you know that Kathy resists having her picture taken with great conviction]

Chad: [to the people on Periscope] Okay, everybody type in where you’re from right now.

[people from all over the world type in their countries]

Lynn and Kathy: OMG wow!

Chad: Tell them what your book is about.

Lynn and Kathy: It’s about us falling in love with the best show on television. Right?

Chad: I agree. Absolutely.

Kathy: It’s about being a fan, about our passion for the show.

Chad: It’s a very special fandom, as I’m sure you all know. You guys need to be part of the Badass Bitches. And everyone, run and get this amazing book. I did an interview for it, right?

Lynn: You did!

Person on Periscope: Chad is a Fangasm!

Chad: Why thank you. Say hi to Lynn and Kathy. And hashtag #Ghoststalkers for a second season.

Periscope Person: That book looks like it’s dope.

Chad: It is dope!

(Thanks to everyone who got on Periscope to say hi to us and to tell us that you loved our books! We were overwhelmed by how many people had read Fangasm and enjoyed it)

Chad [holding up the cover of Fangasm for the Periscope and doing his best Sam and Dean imitation]

Chad as Dean: Hey guys, listen, go out right now and buy this book.

Chad as Sam: Dean, they’re not gonna do it right now…

Chad as Dean: Buy it right now and I’ll love all of you forever.

Chad as Sam: (I’m a terrible Jared…) Dean, I think you should stop…

Chad as Dean: Sam, I’m not gonna tell you again. Buy this book. Fangasm. Do it now.

Lynn and Kathy: [are hysterical laughing]

Chad periscopes Fangasm!

Chad: And everybody go pick up Fangasm on amazon – I’ve known these guys for years. And I’m in it! For a Supernatural fan, this book is a must!

Lynn: Omg thank you! That was so cool. That blows my mind that people from all over the world instantly jumped on, that was so awesome.

Chad: I’m so glad we had a chance to do this, guys. This made me happy.

Lynn and Kathy: Us too.

That’s the kind of guy Chad is. Always giving and caring and supportive. Even if he does scare the crap out of me with his ghost stories.

Chad helps sell Fangasm in the vendors room at Burcon

Don’t forget to tell TNT that you’d like more Ghost Stalkers! And to tell Creation that you’d like Dr. Badass at more cons.

And look for Chad in ‘Manson’s Lost Girls’ and the upcoming ‘Becker’s Farm’!

(And if we’re lucky – hopefully sooner rather than later — back on Supernatural!)

–LynnMore on ‘Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls’
and ‘Fan Phenomena Supernatural’?
Click the links on this page!

Fan Phenomena: Supernatural on Amazon

Fangasm on Amazon

Fandom at the Crossroads on Amazon

Fan Culture: Theory/Practice on Amazon

Our Story

This is the story of two college professors who fell hard for a show called Supernatural. Obsession, devotion, fascination, call it what you will. We decided to figure out what was going on with us by writing a book on fandom from the fans' perspective. As academics do, we hit the libraries and internet, accumulating stacks of articles and hundreds of pages of research. We typed and revised and theorized, quoted and footnoted, and ended up with an academic text crammed full of the current scholarship on fandom.

This is not that book.

Somewhere along the line, the research took a back seat to the road trip as we traveled across the US and Canada interviewing the show’s fans, as well as the actors and directors, writers, journalists, bloggers, convention organizers, significant others and insignificant hangers-on. Fangasm! is the story of that year-long roadtrip -- the surprises we never saw coming, the secrets uncovered, the behind-the-scenes insights, the heartwarming and heartbreaking fan confessions. It’s also the story of our shared obsession and the friendship that sustains us through 4 am line-ups, overtaxed credit cards, canceled flights and airport camp-outs, and of course the occasional accusations of insanity.

Order Fangasm now from Amazon by clicking the link at the top of this page.

Media Coverage

Check out the February 2016 issue of Nylon Magazine - we're quoted in an article about fandom!

What Else We’re Writing

We've written several articles for Supernatural Magazine, including features on the fan convention experience, and behind the scenes on the set. We have also written the academic version of this story, Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships , and edited a collection on fan culture, Fan Culture: Theory/Practice.
You can also order our book Fan Phenomena: Supernatural, with chapters by cast, crew and fans of Supernatural. Check out what Misha Collins and Richard Speight, Jr. have to say in their insightful (and amusing) chapters. Click the links at the top of the page to order.

And coming in May 2017, look for an exciting new book - Family Don't End With Blood: Cast and Fans on How Supernatural Changed Lives with powerful chapters by ten Supernatural actors including Jared Padalecki!

Kathy is also the Principal Editor and Lynn on the Editorial Board of The Journal Of Fandom Studies, published by Intellect. The most recent issue is available now.